A firefighter suffered minor injuries after falling into an empty swimming pool while fighting a house fire near San Gabriel early Thursday, Aug. 16.

Vanessa Lozano, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said “an accidental chemical reaction between a chemical and combustible rag” started the fire in the 7000 block of La Presa Drive, which is in an unincorporated county area.

She didn’t know what chemical was involved. Firefighters responded at 1:15 a.m.

A firefighter, while going across a narrow walkway, fell into the empty pool. He was taken to a hospital; Lozano didn’t know his condition.

Marvin Lim, another department spokesman, said the fire was knocked down at 1:34 a.m. A damage estimate was not available yet.

Ruby Gonzales started working for the company in 1991. Since then she has written about cities, school districts, crimes, cold cases, courts, the San Gabriel River, local history, anime, insects, forensics and the early days of the Internet when people still referred to it as the "information superhighway." Her current beat includes breaking news, crimes and courts for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and Whittier Daily News. When not in crime reporter mode, she frequents the remaining bookstores in the San Gabriel Valley, haunts craft stores or gets dragged to eateries by a relative who is a foodie.